No white flag, just a no awareness
of themselves, no awareness of the deceitfulness of their heart,
but just a pressing on in wickedness. In fact, to go into more wickedness. They went to their own houses.
to plot to remove God from their presence. This is religious leaders,
isn't it? To remove his person, to remove
his word, to remove his witness from their presence, that they
could be justified in their own eyes and maintain their positions
of status and power. And they thought that they were
doing God's service. is from God, and how dark and
how deceitful and how deceptive and how full of hypocrisy it
is. Verse 2, And early in the morning
he came, Jesus, came again into the temple. And all the people
came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. The Lord's life
was full of prayer and preaching. His delight was being in the
presence of His Father and His delight was bringing the Word
of God to His people. In verse 3, "...and the scribes
and the Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery,
and when they had set her in his midst." So you just imagine
a scene. There is a service going on, a church service. The Lord
Jesus Christ gathered, sitting, teaching his people, surrounded
by a crowd and in, imagine a group of 30 religious leaders storming
in here and breaking down the doors and dragging this woman,
this disheveled woman, into the midst. And these people were
dressed in all of their finery and all of their religious garb,
weren't they? And all of their self-righteousness.
And they thought that their plotting and their scheming and their
activities in the night had set such a trap for the Lord Jesus
Christ that they would be able to prove at the end of this little
session that he is not the Messiah. He is the deceiver that we said
earlier to the soldiers that he was. And as those religious
leaders walked in there, there would have just been a stunned
silence. The crowd was there all the time. This crowd of people
just silenced, and they parted and made way for these people.
They stopped the Lord Jesus Christ preaching. They just ignored
what he was saying, ignored the gathering that he was having,
and just marched in and said, this is our place. And they brought in this woman
taken in adultery, and they set her in the midst of them. And then verse four, listen to
their words to him. Master, that means teacher, someone
who is esteemed for his teaching. The hypocrisy of their compliment.
They have one design, which is his death. They cared nothing
for the woman, they cared nothing for the law, they cared nothing
for their sin. How on earth do you catch a woman
in adultery? And that's a very difficult thing
to do, isn't it? To catch her in the very act
of adultery. In the very act, they say. It's
very hard to commit adultery on your own. The religious self-righteousness
is so evil. And one thing that we need to
do is to find ourselves both picturing this story and finding
ourselves in the story. We are there. We are meant to
see these stories. It's us being there. We've got
to remember what the Lord said in Matthew chapter 5. If any
man looks upon a woman lustfully, he has committed adultery. Not
that it might look like adultery, it is adultery according to God.
God's law is spiritual. It's real adultery. Those who
are righteous in their own eyes and look down on others for whatever
sin it might be, for whatever sin it might be, If they don't
see that sin in their own lives, they are as deceived as these
religious leaders are. May God protect us from the self-righteousness
of judgment of others. Listen to what he says. You mightn't
do them physically, but you do them in your heart. Let's be humble about the fact
that the self-righteous religious people are pictures of the Pharisee
that lives inside of all of us. We are so quick to judge and
so quick to stand on our own righteous and to even use religion to do
it. Now, listen to what they go on to say in John 8.5. Now, Moses in the law commanded
us. They've already broken the law
by not bringing the man in. Everywhere in the law where there
is a case of adultery, the man and the woman are dealt with
together, never separately. Moses in the law commanded us
that such should be stoned, but what says thou? What sayest thou? They said this. They knew what
the law said. They knew that they'd already
broken the law. Just as Nicodemus has pointed
out the hypocrisy of the night before, here they are in the
morning doing exactly the same thing. What were they doing?
They were asking him to be the judge. They were the ones that
were responsible for carrying out these sentences, and they'd
been doing so for very many years, and it was their job to teach
the people the law. So they knew why they were asking
him. Verse 6 says, This they said, tempting him, that they
might have to accuse him. They are testing him. That is
the word that's used of Satan in his temptations of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That is the word that's used
for people in churches who put people under a legal obligation
to serve God in Galatians. Why tempt ye God, says the apostle. So here's the trap they set him.
If he says, the law says stone her and he says to go and stone
her, where is his mercy? Where is his love for the harlots
and the sinners? If you say stone her, we will
be able to go to these people and say he's not the merciful
and kind man that he makes out to be. Also, there was another
situation, wasn't it? The Jews didn't have the right
at that time for capital punishment. That's why when they came to
crucify the Lord Jesus Christ, they had the Romans do it for
them. And so if the Lord Jesus Christ had stoned her, then he
would have had issues with the Romans as well. And then if he
said, let her go free, they would have said to him, you don't have
any respect or any care or any need or any desire to obey the
law of Moses. We already know that you are
a law-breaker because you healed that crippled man on the Sabbath,
and that's why we want to kill you, because you're a Sabbath-breaker.
And therefore, because of these things, you cannot be the Messiah. You are what we said you were,
which is a deceiver and a liar. We've set this perfect chapter.
Imagine Imagine, you've done deals and done schemes and things.
Imagine how thrilled the man that came up with this must have
been the night before. We finally got him. And this
wasn't the last time they come to him with a coin, don't they,
and say, you know the story about the coin, and who do you render
this to? They kept on going. They kept
on wanting to trap him. But the guy that came up with
this scheme, And his mates must have been so thrilled that night.
We've finally got him. We've got him. We've got him
here in the temple. We know he's coming to the temple courts in
the morning. Here we are. All we have to do is find one
of our own number to find this woman that we know is famous
for these sorts of activities and arrange this. And probably
with a little bit of money for her and a little bit of help.
A little bit of enticement. And listen to the Lord's response.
But Jesus stooped down. as if he heard them not. The words, as though he heard
them not, are in italics, so they're not in the original.
He just stooped down and wrote it on the ground, and he ignored
them. It's a very good response to
people who want to be nitpicking about issues of the gospel. There's a lot of wisdom in that,
isn't there? You just stooped down. and just ignore them. As we saw earlier, the finger
of God wrote twice, the tablets of stone were written on twice
because Moses broke the first one and we saw all of the wickedness
and the idolatry that Aaron and others had concocted at the foot
of Mount Sinai. He wrote the Ten Commandments
with his finger and he wrote on that wall in Belshazzar's
palace, meenie meenie teckle of Sarum. And maybe he wrote
those words down there, God has numbered thy kingdom and finished
it. And that's exactly what was happening
to this kingdom that these Jews had thought they'd set up. God
has numbered thy kingdom. Techel, thou art weighed in the
balance. You're weighed in the balance
of God's justice. You're weighed in the balance
of the evidence before you, and you are found wanting. And your
kingdom is divided. I've come to bring division here.
I've come to take my people out of this kingdom that you think
you have established by your own religious activities. I've
taken your kingdom and given it away. The Lord Jesus Christ
stooped down twice. The Lord Jesus Christ wrote twice. And twice, the Lord Jesus Christ
lifted himself up. He arose. And I do love what
Jeremiah 17 says. And given the words that the
Lord Jesus Christ had preached to these people the day before, Maybe very well he might have
reminded them of what was being said. You can just imagine, weren't
they? They were like our yapping Barney dog that we're babysitting
at home. Once he starts yapping, he doesn't
stop yapping. And that's exactly what these people are like, aren't
they? Once they have their scheme in
order and everything lined up, and they think that they can
entrap the Lord Jesus Christ, they just continue. So they continued
asking Him. Verse seven, and He lifted up
Himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her. It may well be translated, he
that is without this particular sin, cast the first stone at
her. They were all claiming that they
were witnesses, they were self-proclaimed witnesses, and he wasn't a witness
under the law. He was obedient to the law. He challenges them about their
participants in it. And again he stooped down, verse
8, and he wrote on the ground, he wrote on the ground, and then
something happened in the hearts of these men. Something happened
in their consciences, wasn't it? Verse 9, And they which heard
it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one
by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus
was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. Let me remind you, you, like
me, have committed many, many things about which we are ashamed,
and especially when it's publicly revealed. And we can feel a great
deal of shame and guilt about things, and if all of it was
exposed, we'd be horrified for people to know what had gone
on in secret places. But a conviction in your own
conscience never brings you to Christ. Listen to what this conviction
that these people had did to them. cause them to go out from Him. When God convicts a sinner, when
the Holy Spirit comes and reveals to you the sin of unbelief, the
sin that you are in yourself, the cause of that conviction
is for you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, to run to Him,
because you have nowhere else to go. You've got somewhere else
to go. You haven't been convicted by Him in your heart. They weren't
cut to the heart like those people in Acts chapter 2 that cried
out with their wounded heart, Lord, what must we do to be saved? They don't cry out like that
jailer who had that sword to his own heart. What must I do
to be saved? Why? Because self-righteousness
doesn't want to be in the presence of God. from God rather than standing
there in the one place. And I do love what is the result
of all this. Verse 9 at the end, And Jesus
was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. Please
note that she's never asked to defend herself because she has
nothing to defend herself for. She is guilty. She is silent,
isn't she? But what's the best place for Go convicted sinner, go wounded
sinner, and go to be alone with Him. The best place you can ever
be is being left alone with Him. standing in his midst. Verse 10. And when Jesus had
lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her,
Woman, where are those thine accusers? Where are those thine
accusers? brothers and sisters around this
sea and watching this and hanging on every syllable he said and
every action were all of that crowd of people in church beforehand. They were all there watching
and watching. The law demands that witnesses bring
the accusation and then the law demands that those witnesses
are the ones to cast the first stone. law in any way at all. He came
to magnify the law and make it honourable. Woman, where are
those thine accusers? You, like me, have been accused
of many things. We do have accusers. You do have
so many accusers, don't you? The law of God accuses us. Satan
accuses us. Our consciences accuse us. We're
accused to be condemned. And he said to her, Neither do I condemn thee. Where are your accusers? And
she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Was she guilty? Of course she was guilty. Did she
deserve death? When those men arrested her that
morning and caught her in the very act of adultery, effectively
her life was over. Her life was forfeited. Did she
deserve death? The law of God said yes, she
does. Was she fully responsible for her shameful conduct? She was. She had, like you and
I, she had no one else to blame. But it's the glory of the gospel
and it's the glory of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that
Christianity, true Christianity, answers a question that no other
religion even dares to ask or even knows the law to ask. How
can God be just? How can God be holy? How can God be righteous? How
can God perfectly obey his law? That law written on stone that's
unchangeable and unmovable. How can God be just and forgive
a sinner? How can God magnify His holy
character and yet save sinners? It's a question that's asked
in the first book of the Bible in Job. It says, how can a man
be just with God? It's a great question, isn't
it? How can the Lord Jesus Christ, who really knew this woman was
worthy of condemnation, say that He does not condemn her, and
honour His justice, and honour His Father's glory, and honour
the Word of God, and be a just God? How can the law, immovable
and inflexible, how can the law say to this woman, I condemn
you no more." Well, the answer is in the actions of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He stooped twice, didn't he?
He stooped from heaven to earth. He was made flesh, made of a
woman. And he stooped again on the cross
of Calvary when he was made sin. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. And he was lifted up twice. He was lifted up on the cross. again on resurrection day. And he's speaking to this woman
on resurrection ground. He's speaking to her on the ground
of his perfect and finished work. You can go to Gethsemane and
the answer is seen. This cup that the father gave
him had the sins of this lady in it and the sins of every one
of God's elect children from before the foundation of the
world, all of their sins. And the cup was given to him
by his father. And this cup can't pass away
unless he drinks it. And if he drinks it, I cannot
drink it. And if he drinks it, he drinks
it under the holy law and justice of God. And he drank it. God's children are guilty as
charged and not condemned. She was deserving of having her
blood shed that morning for her sins. But in a few months more,
blood will be shed. The wages of sin is death. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Blood
will be shed. A death will be died. Our God, our God saves sinners. In the providence of God she
is brought into the very presence of God and she hears these words
from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. A guilty, condemned,
dying sinner is said to go and sin no more. to think for a minute
what it was like for that lady to go from that church service
that day. You can imagine the state she
was brought into. There was no way in the world
they were going to cover her up and comb her hair and put
a robe around her. She was made by those religious
leaders to be very much as guilty and as sinful as they could possibly
show. But I imagine her walking away
from there that morning. and someone giving her a robe
to cover her shame. Go and sin no more. The natural man says, when I
hear that, I could go and live as I like. How do you think she
wanted to live? See, it's forgiven sinners. It's
forgiven sinners that hate sin and cling to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's forgiven sinners that are
brought into his very presence and brought to hear those glorious
words, neither do I condemn thee. Such is the love of our God for
his bride. None but the woman, none but
the woman. He had eyes for none but the
woman. He has loved her with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness, he's drawn her. She wouldn't have chosen
the method of being drawn, and neither do we. But it's the one
you are drawn to that matters most of all. The one in whose
presence you are. spoken. Let's pray. Now, Heavenly
Father, we praise you for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We praise you, Heavenly Father, that he bore all of the sins
of all of his people in his own body on the tree. And right now,
Heavenly Father, right now, as we sit here, right now, as we
are in your presence, there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. It's God that justifies his people
and all of the sins of all of God's people were put on the
Lord Jesus Christ and he bore them to Calvary's tree and the
law of God punished them until the law of God says, I am satisfied,
it is finished and they are no more. Oh, our Father, we pray
that you would continue, as you've done, to draw sinners into your
presence to cause us to see what we are, but most especially,
Heavenly Father, to cause us to see who your dear and precious
Son is. And you alone, our God, can make
Him and His blood precious to us. Washed we are, your children,
Heavenly Father, and robed with His righteousness. Bless your
word to the hearts of your people, Heavenly Father. Cause us to
come rather than go away from Him. Cause us to come and see
again and again. To come and simply believe and
rest in who He is and what He's done. We pray in his name.